With the NBA Draft being just six days away and a class that is considered to be weak. However, there are still a lot of interesting and intriguing draft prospects; the most notable is Bronny James. The son of LeBron James. Bronny had a rough season at USC after suffering a cardiac arrest before the college season but still ended up declaring for the 2024 Draft.
Rich Paul is an agent for many NBA players, the most notable is LeBron James. Paul is also Bronny James’ agent. He has been very vocal about Bronny in this whole draft process. Saying things like; Bronny will not sign a two-way contract, they are limiting his draft workouts. He mentioned five teams that have an interest in Bronny, and that Bronny and LeBron are not a package deal. So, with how vocal Rich Paul is about Bronny James leading up to the Draft, the question becomes is he helping or hurting Bronny?
Is Rich Paul Helping or Hurting Bronny James During the Pre-Draft Process?
How Rich Paul is Helping Bronny
Even with how vocal he is being, there are still ways he is helping Bronny. The first is having him not sign a two-way contract. He believes Bronny James is good enough to not be on a two-way and be on a roster competing for playing time. Paul is trying to guarantee him to be on a roster spot. There are probably some agents out there when talking to NBA teams about a prospect, who would not fight as hard as Paul is for Bronny.
The other reason would be Paul listing the other teams that are interested in him. This is saying, hey if you are interested in him you better draft him because other teams will. The hope is for a team that is picking, that might have two picks in this draft would take him earlier and not wait knowing that another team might draft him before their next pick.
Finally, they are keeping Bronny’s name current and in the media. Out of all the draft prospects in the 2024 draft, Bronny James has been talked about the most in the media and he isn’t even projected to be a lottery pick. This is making media members talk about him and putting more pressure on NBA teams to potentially draft him.
How Rich Paul is Hurting Bronny
Even though Rich Paul is helping Bronny James, there are also reasons he is hurting him. One of the reasons is, refusing to have him sign a two-way contract. Some NBA teams don’t think he is ready to play in the NBA quite yet, and the best course of action for him could be a two-way contract. Since he had a rough year in college and rushed to get to the NBA quicker. Having him consider signing a two-way contract to improve his game could bring more teams to have interest in him.
Another reason would be limiting is pre-draft workouts. He is not a top-five pick in this draft and he could be using those pre-draft workouts to improve his draft stock. Going to those workouts allows teams to see you in person and evaluate you on things they had question marks about. If Bronny James is not doing them then those question marks teams have about him will still be there, and because of that they won’t draft him.
To go along with limiting his pre-draft workouts, it seems Rich Paul is trying to force him onto specific teams. He is not letting all 30 teams in the NBA have a chance to get to know him and evaluate him. If he would let Bronny do more pre-draft workouts, the pool of five teams that have an interest in him could go to ten or so. Which would give him a better chance to get into the NBA. However, that is not the case as they have declined many pre-draft workouts. It just seems like Paul is forcing Bronny to go to a select few teams that he wants Bronny to go to.
The Last Word
Even though he is helping Bronny James a little bit, it is safe to say he is hurting him more than he is helping him. They are limiting the chances of him trying to improve his draft stock by limiting his pre-draft workouts. Also, limiting the teams that could have an interest in him by refusing to have him sign a two-way contract. It seems more and more that Rich Paul is trying to force him to go to a specific team rather than having him go to the best fit. A team that could develop him to become a better basketball player.
